It's getting close to the final day here at Brownville and people are starting to get stressed. Costumes still has to inventory the entire storage space, plus all of the sewing supplies in the work space, which is all in addition to the deep cleaning we have to do before we shut up the theatre for the season. I think we're all a little bit excited to get back to the real world though, as much as we've come to love the people here.
Yesterday, Brian (who is leaving for NYC in September) managed to make a contact! One of the board members hear through the (particularly extensive) grape vine that he was leaving for New York to try and make it in theatre. As it turns out, the board member has a son-in-law who is an equity carpenter, so Brian is going to get a hold of him when he moves. It's a small world I guess.
There's not a lot of news, otherwise. Today we had a day off so we're all going to see Superman in Auburn and we're making enchilada's for dinner.
Monday, August 6, 2012
Sunday, August 5, 2012
Dumbledore vs. Steve Irwin
This weekend I hosted both nights, and adopted two different personas.
On Friday, I was Dumbledore, headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Dead Students. I ushered people into the arena in a burst and peppy British accent, separating them into houses based on the color of their sticker. Someone else at the show was a Starkid, like myself, so they knew some quotes from A Very Potter Musical, and we bantered for awhile. I was oh so proud! I yelled out a bunch of spells, made sure no one was bringing magical swords into the arena, and admitted that I didn't know what a Hufflepuff was (who does really?)
On Saturday, I decided to be Steve Irwin, and it was easily my most successful hosting character ever! I had so much fun creeping behind fake plants, inching out to poke people and run quickly away, and running live commentary on groups of people. There was a bachelorette party wearing all purple shirts, so I decided they were flamingoes, and announced that I was going to approach them. As I got halfway to the party, I yelled back that they did not appear to be hostile, and decided to adopt a one-legged flamingo stance in an attempt to establish contact. I was successful! A bit later in the evening, when most of the people had filtered into the arena, I threw my fake snake onstage and wrestled it to the ground. It caught me around the neck, but I eventually threw it off and stood up to an uproarious cheer from the crowd. It was extraordinary!
That ended my host stint for the summer. I have learned so much about directly entertaining people and really worked on my comedic timing and quick thinking. I have loved every minute of it, and cannot wait to come back over breaks.
The end of the year show for my Improv class is on Tuesday, so I have one or two more posts to go, but I am excited to put my skills to the test!
Over and out,
-D
On Friday, I was Dumbledore, headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Dead Students. I ushered people into the arena in a burst and peppy British accent, separating them into houses based on the color of their sticker. Someone else at the show was a Starkid, like myself, so they knew some quotes from A Very Potter Musical, and we bantered for awhile. I was oh so proud! I yelled out a bunch of spells, made sure no one was bringing magical swords into the arena, and admitted that I didn't know what a Hufflepuff was (who does really?)
On Saturday, I decided to be Steve Irwin, and it was easily my most successful hosting character ever! I had so much fun creeping behind fake plants, inching out to poke people and run quickly away, and running live commentary on groups of people. There was a bachelorette party wearing all purple shirts, so I decided they were flamingoes, and announced that I was going to approach them. As I got halfway to the party, I yelled back that they did not appear to be hostile, and decided to adopt a one-legged flamingo stance in an attempt to establish contact. I was successful! A bit later in the evening, when most of the people had filtered into the arena, I threw my fake snake onstage and wrestled it to the ground. It caught me around the neck, but I eventually threw it off and stood up to an uproarious cheer from the crowd. It was extraordinary!
That ended my host stint for the summer. I have learned so much about directly entertaining people and really worked on my comedic timing and quick thinking. I have loved every minute of it, and cannot wait to come back over breaks.
The end of the year show for my Improv class is on Tuesday, so I have one or two more posts to go, but I am excited to put my skills to the test!
Over and out,
-D
Saturday, August 4, 2012
One down, one to go
Finally, after 2 nights of having to call the show due to weather, we finally opened Winnie the Pooh. Out of all the 3 shows we have been a part of, this is the show that we don't want to call due to weather. We never had a true tech rehearsal, so a lot of the lighting stuff has been changing on the fly like adjusting the them and changing gels. We added a green gel to the spotlight I run to add an eerie feel to 2 different moments. This is the first show I've done where the director has added what she's called a "Glee" show, before the main production because of how short the main show is. The set didn't change from The Aracoma Story. The only changes were the 3 flats and 2 small huts that we built. Its amazing what can happen when we get to do our job and build different flats instead of just platforms or setting up pieces that were pre-made. After tonight, we've got one week before we start cleaning up and winterizing the theatre.
Friday, August 3, 2012
Put on Your Game Face
On Tuesday, we had our last practice before our show on the 7th. We had pretty much covered everything except Chain Murder, so we worked on that.
Chain Murder involves an audience-given location, occupation, and weapon. The weapon is generally spilt into two parts. Using mime and gibberish, person one must relay the location, occupation, and weapon of the murderer to person two. When person two figures it out, they kill person one, and in turn repeat the process to person three. Person three repeats to person four, and then person four must guess what the location, occupation, and weapon of the murderer are. If they get everything right, 4 points are awarded. If something is wrong, person three can guess, awarding three points. Two and one follow the same process. The hilarity comes in trying to mime something like a pizzeria, thumbtack and banana weapons, and a plumber occupation, which make no logical sense together.
I also hosted last weekend, and my mom finally got to see a show. She and my aunt had an awesome time, and said I was very entertaining. I was an elderly man at first and mostly yelled at kids to get off my lawn and told them that these newfangled video games didn't exist before the war. The second show I changed to Sassy Nanna, where I utilized my Jewish New York Mother accent, and hilarity ensued.
I host all weekend, starting tonight, and my next post will be my last as I return to school next Friday. What? Summer went where? Beats me.
Over and out!
-D
Chain Murder involves an audience-given location, occupation, and weapon. The weapon is generally spilt into two parts. Using mime and gibberish, person one must relay the location, occupation, and weapon of the murderer to person two. When person two figures it out, they kill person one, and in turn repeat the process to person three. Person three repeats to person four, and then person four must guess what the location, occupation, and weapon of the murderer are. If they get everything right, 4 points are awarded. If something is wrong, person three can guess, awarding three points. Two and one follow the same process. The hilarity comes in trying to mime something like a pizzeria, thumbtack and banana weapons, and a plumber occupation, which make no logical sense together.
I also hosted last weekend, and my mom finally got to see a show. She and my aunt had an awesome time, and said I was very entertaining. I was an elderly man at first and mostly yelled at kids to get off my lawn and told them that these newfangled video games didn't exist before the war. The second show I changed to Sassy Nanna, where I utilized my Jewish New York Mother accent, and hilarity ensued.
I host all weekend, starting tonight, and my next post will be my last as I return to school next Friday. What? Summer went where? Beats me.
Over and out!
-D
Thursday, August 2, 2012
I think my work shop went well!
Today I did my improv workshop and it was totally amazing, I was so worried! I really wanted to teach these kids, but I also was very nervous because I had never really done a workshop before. We tried so many different games, and not only did i teach them I also learned myself. Watching those kids laugh was amazing especially when you could totally tell when a student has such potential. Its like a light bulb goes off and they finally let go. I do admit it was a lot more difficult to teach the younger ones improv, just because I really wanted them to learn the basics and what it really takes to be able to do improv. We played a lot of eye contact games, animal walks, basically just little games that would help them in the future. I have one more workshop tomorrow and I cannot wait to see how it goes!!!
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Improv workshop tomorrow!
So today we got to watch Legally Blonde the Musical and I have to say it was pretty impressive. For every musical that we watch the TMP staff put together workshops that fit accordingly to each movie. So this week its my turn to lead a workshop and I decided I wanted to do an improv workshop! I can't wait to be able to work with these kids and really see the silly side come out in them.
Nearing the end
So this week/next week will be my last weeks at the Playhouse. It's been very bittersweet. I'm excited to be done and come back to school, but it's also been a great learning experience that I really needed to continue on with my education. Being at the Playhouse has not only taught me tons not only about designing but also directing, working with large groups, and as an assistant.
Although I still wish I had had the chance to costume a show at the end of my internship to see how I would have progressed given working on RENT with Angie, I still feel like Pinkalicious was a great opportunity. Fame Jr. has been going really well so far. I officially have all 42 kids names memorized and almost all their costumes as well. This weekend is the performance weekend, so hopefully everything goes as planned!
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